diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20221122-172014.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20221122-172014.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a30be59b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20221122-172014.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+kind: Fixes
+body: Friendlier error message for misspecified distkey type
+time: 2022-11-22T17:20:14.432522-08:00
+custom:
+  Author: dluftspring
+  Issue: "224"
+  PR: "226"
diff --git a/dbt/include/redshift/macros/adapters.sql b/dbt/include/redshift/macros/adapters.sql
index 8b74933bd..b38897161 100644
--- a/dbt/include/redshift/macros/adapters.sql
+++ b/dbt/include/redshift/macros/adapters.sql
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 
 {% macro dist(dist) %}
   {%- if dist is not none -%}
+      {%- if dist is iterable or dist is mapping and (dist is not string) -%}
+        {% do exceptions.raise_compiler_error("Expected a single valued property for dist and got: " ~ dist ~ " instead") %}
+      {%- endif -%}
+
       {%- set dist = dist.strip().lower() -%}
 
       {%- if dist in ['all', 'even'] -%}